By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

Published: October 15, 1999

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 14—
Prosecutors who failed to obtain a grand jury indictment on Wednesday in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey said today that the girl's parents were still suspects in the case.

''They have not been eliminated from the investigation,'' Alexander M. Hunter, the Boulder City and County District Attorney said, referring to John and Patsy Ramsey, who found their 6-year-old daughter strangled and beaten in the basement of their Boulder home almost three years ago.

The Ramseys have steadfastly professed their innocence and on Wednesday, after the grand jury was dismissed, said: ''We take no satisfaction in this result because a child killer remains free and undetected. Somebody out there ought to be pretty scared tonight.''

Mr. Hunter made his assertion in an afternoon news conference, where he and fellow prosecutors emphasized that efforts to learn who killed JonBenet would now be returned to the Boulder Police Department.

The department's initial investigation, which drew widespread criticism for its actions in the hours after the girl's body was discovered, ended on Sept. 13, 1998, when the grand jury began hearing evidence in the case.

The grand jury was dismissed on Wednesday after the prosecution team determined that it did not have sufficient evidence to try the case. Mr. Hunter described the grand jury as ''a phase of a continuum'' in the investigation and said that with persuasive new evidence, he would consider convening another panel.

As Mr. Hunter announced that he was turning over the case to the police, Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado said at a news conference in Denver that he was appointing a team of seven legal experts, including the state Attorney General, Ken Salazar, to consider whether he should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case. That would remove the investigation from the Boulder police.

''Justice demands that we evaluate every legal opinion that might help us determine who killed JonBenet Ramsey,'' Mr. Owens said. ''This advisory team will help me decide if appointing a special prosecutor will further the interests of justice in this case.''

The advisers are expected to conclude their work this month.

Mr. Hunter, a seven-term Democrat, said he did not want to ''second guess'' Mr. Owens, a Republican elected last year.

''I don't want to say anything that might make it more difficult for him to make an objective determination,'' Mr. Hunter said. ''We are interested in the pursuit of the truth of this case. If he can assist in that, I don't think any of us would stand in his way.''

Like the prosecutors who joined him at the news conference, Mr. Hunter looked somber. He described having an ''aching heart'' for their inability to present enough evidence for an indictment and their unanimous decision not to charge anyone in the killing.

Yet he declined to answer many questions that would have shed light on the status of the case, including details about the grand jury's work over the last 13 months, the reason prosecutors did not ask the Ramseys to testify before the panel or any steps the Boulder police probably will take in future efforts to identify a killer.

Nor did he offer any opinion about the quality of work by the Boulder police detectives, inasmuch as local investigators did not secure the crime scene for many hours after Mr. Ramsey found the body of his daughter in the basement of his house.

Appearing before reporters after Mr. Hunter, Chief Mark Beckner, of the Boulder Police Department, forcefully defended his department and its work throughout the investigation.

''Much has been made out of alleged mistakes early in this case,'' Mr. Beckner said. ''Yes, there are things we should have done differently. Any time a crime scene is disturbed, it creates problems for the investigation.''

''However,'' he added, ''to say that mistakes have made this an unsolvable case is not accurate. Circumstances and evidence that raise questions for us today are not the result of a contaminated crime scene.''

In promising that the authorities would press ahead with the investigation, Mr. Hunter tried to build public confidence by reminding reporters several times that prosecutors sometimes wait 10 years or more to develop enough evidence for an indictment and arrest.

''We really do believe we need to follow the evidence and go where it takes us,'' he said, without elaborating. ''The evidence in this case gives us a belief that it deserves our best efforts.''

He also said investigators were working on ''a broad spectrum of leads,'' including forensic evidence, Mr. Hunter and Chief Beckner said, which could lead them back to JonBenet's parents, who remain the only suspects that Mr. Hunter and other prosecutors ever have identified in the case.

Chief Beckner said that since the grand jury was dismissed, he had not been contacted by the Ramseys to inquire about thee future of the case. The Ramseys did not respond immediately today to Mr. Hunter's remarks.

Chief Beckner echoed Mr. Hunter, saying, ''Contrary to public perception, we have made progress in this case over the past 13 months because of the work of the grand jury.''

''This case, he added, ''is not dead in the water.''

Photos: Nearly three years after JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in Boulder, Colo., prosecutors on Wednesday dismissed the grand jury in the case. (Agence France-Presse); District Attorney Alexander M. Hunter of Boulder City and County, Colo., said yesterday that John and Patsy Ramsey remained suspects in the death of their daughter, JonBenet, whose grave is in Marietta, Ga. (Associated Press)(pg. A32)